Lord of the Farm: Comparative Essay

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Lord of the Farm: Comparative Essay

Joey Liptapanlop

Amongst the twentieth century’s greatest literary compositions are William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Both novels explore the theme of power, miscreant and corruption through the use of setting. Both of Animals building a windmill symbolize their transformation from animal to human through the corrupted regime of Napoleon. On the contrary, the Castle Rock represents what seemed like a metamorphosis of the boys into savage animals under leadership of two boys with polemical dichotomy. Orwell’s fable uses a windmill built by the animals as the symbol, whereas Golding uses the Castle Rock, an isolated piece of land, as his symbol.

        Since both novels explore the theme of power through setting, both settings much have some similarities between each other. Both of the two places are isolated from where the character lives and are both on higher ground as told by the lines “In the long pasture, not far from the farm buildings, there was a small knoll which was the highest point on the farm… Snowball declared that this was just the place for a windmill.” (AF, V, 32) and “The tail-end part, where the rocks are all piled up” (LOTF, VI, 113), which represents the characters looking up to power. The Windmill is built with many strong bricks as told with the lines “it had been decided to build the walls three feet thick” (AF, VII, 49), and the Castle Rock is used for defensive purposes according to Jack when he said “Shove a palm tree under that and if an enemy came…one heave… and- whee!” (LOTF, VI, 117-8). This goes to show that power needs to be ready to defend itself as well. Both of these symbols were also founded or built when the protagonist (Napoleon and Jack) are without higher power outside. For the pigs, it was through the absence of men that they built the windmill. The boys established the Castle Rock in the absence of any adults. Finally, both places are possibly built or discovered as a milestone of power and civilization, in a hope that it will last into time, similarly to real life monuments of civilization such as the Pyramid of Giza or the Great Wall of China. Indeed, both of these places have its similarities in their symbolizing of power.

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        Castle Rock is an isolated part of “The Island” in which the boys are isolated on in. It was discovered by the boys in their search for the haunting best. The belligerent Jack, the boy focused on hunting and killing, stated upon seeing the place “What a place for a fort!” (LOTF, VI, 117). He was ecstatic by the prospect of a defensive fortress of the place, which shows his use of power in the savage way. Jack eventually became the leader of half of the boys who were considered the less civilized ones. The fact that the place was ...

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